Using car wash soap in the pressure washer is highly recommended, but if you’re cleaning your vehicle with a bucket of water or a garden hose, there’s no need to buy the specialized product. There’s plenty of products you can use that are already in your home, and in this article, we’ll review the 6 best alternatives to car wash soap.
The basic liquid dish soap is the best alternative to specialized car wash soaps. Other options include baby shampoo, mild clothes detergent, hand soap, and other mild cleaning solutions.
I have been using dish soap to wash cars ever since I was a kid. Unless I’m using the pressure washer with a soap dispenser, dish soap is still my go-to car cleaning solution.
The food-safe qualities of dish soap make it perfectly safe for application on car paint. As it’s already suitable for glass and metal kitchenware, cleaning the surface of the headlights, windows, and body panels won’t be a challenge.
Greasy and particularly grimy parts will require a lot of scrubbing, and dish soap is not ideal in that application, but for a regularly washed vehicle, it’s going to be a great alternative.
You won’t need much of it, a decent spray or two into a bucket of water will do the trick, but you can use as much as you’d like. To get the best results, fill the bucket 1/4 full with water, add the dish soap, then add the rest of the water in a spray, either through a garden hose or showerhead. It will spread out the soap and make it foam, making it more effective.
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Liquid hand soap is a great alternative because it’s completely paint-safe and effectively cleans moderately dirty surfaces. I’ve used a few brands and found that the results were surprising – the cheaper the soap is, the better, especially those that are very difficult to wash off your hands.
My theory is that stickier soaps do not wash away as easily and work better to clean the surface, and even leave a protective coating. To use it, take a bucket and fill it with a small amount of soap. Mix it in well and apply it to the vehicle with a sponge. I would recommend the use of a garden hose or pressure washer to remove the soap from the vehicle, as it’s going to be very difficult to clear it by hand.
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Baby shampoo might be too mild of a solution for cleaning a car, but when we’re looking at the alternatives, the primary focus is on products that will not damage the clear coat of the vehicle. It’s not the cheapest option either, so I wouldn’t recommend substituting car soap with it, but for an occasional wash, it’s not a bad choice.
Shampoo should be applied to a bucket of water and mixed in well before being applied to the vehicle with a sponge. I suggest using the pressure washer or a garden hose to rinse it out well, as leaving some of it on could dull the paint shine.
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Laundry detergent is an extremely potent cleaner so you need to be careful which type you use, and be very conservative with the amount. One bottle cap is more than enough to wash the entire vehicle, but it still has to be thoroughly rinsed out.
I have never used the laundry detergent to wash the car, but I’ve frequently used granulated detergent to wash my hands of motor oil and other dirt you’d get from working on mechanical parts. This leads me to believe that laundry detergent would be a great way to clean grimed parts like steel wheels and exhaust tips.
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I’ve covered the main products you can use to clean the entire vehicle, and you can easily expand the list with hair shampoo, body wash, and different types of laundry detergent. Instead of repeating myself, I’ll provide you with two great household products to use as wheel cleaners.
The first is your classic kitchen degreaser. Having recently used it to clean the aluminum rims that were long overdue a scrub, the kitchen degreaser helped significantly in removing the black tar caused by brake residue. If you don’t want to spend the extra cash on rim or brake cleaner, a kitchen degreaser is a very solid alternative.
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I got the idea to use hydrochloric acid on rims from a friend in the detailing business. He told me it’s a much faster way of cleaning the wheels in comparison to using a kitchen degreaser, but I haven’t had the chance to use it myself.
The problem with hydrochloric acid is that it’s a very toxic substance, you’ll need to handle it very carefully. It also requires you to take the wheels off the vehicle, lay them flat, and spray with the acid, which means gloves and a mask are a must. It’s definitely an alternative worth mentioning, but only use it if you know what you’re doing, otherwise, you’re better off putting some work in with the kitchen degreaser.
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Washing a car without any products doesn’t make too much of a difference in the final result, but will make it a lot more difficult to remove dirt and other particles. The drawback of washing your vehicle at home is that the water isn’t demineralized, and it will leave stains. To prevent this from happening, you need to use a chamois (shammy) cloth to dry the car as soon as you’re done with rinsing.
Yes, you can. Notice how most of the reports that claim dish soap, hand soap, and other skin-care products are not safe for cars are written as ad pieces for companies that sell detailing products. I have used dish soap on the same car from its 10th to 27th year on the road, and its paint definitely deteriorated over the years, but I can almost guarantee that it wasn’t caused by dish soap.
Dedicated car soap is the best option, but if you need a good alternative, you can safely use dish soap.
Before I answer this question I have to clarify one thing. Wax is something you apply on top of the paint to provide an additional layer of protection. It is not the clear coat that’s applied by the factory. If your car has a wax coat added on top, it’s best to use a dedicated car soap with wax-safe properties, as these alternatives will likely remove it.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the “bucket of water” approach to washing the car. The vehicle’s exterior can get very dirty, and a few gallons worth of water in a bucket is not going to be enough to clean it all. What’s likely going to happen is that your sponge will start to accumulate the dirt and sand into it, turning into sandpaper that will damage the paint.
The best way to wash a car at home is with an oversized sponge, a bucket of water with dish soap or car cleaning solution, and running water, be it from a pressure washer or a plain garden hose. Start from the top and work your way down, rinsing the sponge with running water regularly to remove any abrasive substances.
Once you’ve scrubbed everything, rinse the vehicle with running water, and immediately start wiping it with a shammy cloth to avoid water stains. Even though you’re doing everything by hand, if you’re efficient the whole process can be done in just 20 minutes.
Washing the car without running water is doable, but it can be very tedious if you want to get the job done right. It’s best to have two buckets – one with the cleaning solution, and the other with clear water. Use the first bucket to soak the sponge and scrub the car, starting from the top.
Once you’re done with a section, use the bucket with water to rinse the sponge. As soon as the water turns too murky, you need to replace it. If it becomes oversaturated with dirt, some of it will stay on the sponge and it will scrape the paint. You’ll have to do this often, but it’s a necessary step to keep the paint from damage.
With the scrubbing done, use the sponge to wipe the surfaces again with clean water, and finish off the job by wiping the car with a chamois cloth.
Unless your car has been treated with a protective wax, you can use dish soap, hand soap, baby or hair shampoo, or even laundry detergent as an alternative to car wash soap. The chemical composition of these products may vary, so double-check if your product is safe for paint, especially the laundry detergent.
Read through these similar posts for more tips on car wash:
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